The field of the invention is lamellar gels and methods for making and using thereof.
Gels are viscoelastic materials that normally consist of a solid component dispersed in a liquid, water in the case of hydrogels. Polymer gels, either natural such as gelatin, or synthetic, contain a polymer network that serves as the solid component and can resist shear. For many biological applications, gels based on high molecular weight polyethylene glycol have been used because of their low immunogenicity. In this context these gels coat more immunogenic tissues, proteins and other materials and thereby provide protection from immune response.
Conventional polymer gels incorporate solid phase components, a characteristic that places constraints on their manipulation and use in a variety of settings. Polymer gels that incorporate solid phase components (e.g., poly(vinyl alcohol) based gels) (1) are severely limited in their ability to provide flexible means for making reagents accessible to or directing such reagents towards different targets.
Gels that can function without solid phase components such as those that utilize a lamellar hydrogel phase for regulating their viscosity and elasticity would overcome many of the problems observed in the field of conventional gels. Unlike polymer gels that incorporate a primarily covalently-linked network with no fluid component, a bioactive gel such as the gel of the invention, based on fluid membranes could incorporate membrane-imbedded proteins or other biologically active molecules, thus providing a way to deliver such molecules in a stable gel.
The state of the current art in the field of gels (polymer gels) and their compositions and methods for making and using in a manner that facilitates drug targeting and delivery or other applications for molecule delivery in related contexts, is limited by the inability to imbed molecules into the linked network.
The present invention is directed to overcoming the limitations associated with polymer gels.